Heart of Australia program benefits from generosity from Queensland's heart

Despite droughts and flooding rains, the volunteers of the Outback Festival in Winton have raised $22,000 for the Heart of Australia program, which offers an innovative approach to front-line specialist medical services for isolated people.

The Heart of Australia program brings regular cardiac, endocrine and respiratory specialist services to rural and remote communities across Queensland.

“We were able to raise $22,000 for the Heart of Australia clinic”, said festival coordinator Robyn Stephens OAM. "This foundation was identified as country Australians are currently 44 per cent more likely than city dwellers to die from a heart attack”.

The $22,000 cheque was delivered on March 3 in Winton by Outback Festival committee members, who made a special presentation to Dr Rolf Gomes, Brisbane cardiologist and founder of Heart of Australia whilst he was in Winton.